Axel Springer confirms guidance as Business Insider turns profit

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German publisher Axel Springer (SPRGn.DE) reported a 7.8 percent gain in core profits in the second quarter and reaffirmed its overall guidance for 2018, as its financial news site Business Insider turned its first profit.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of the German publisher Axel Springer is seen outside its headquarters in Berlin August 7, 2013. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo

“We are investing and we are growing. Classifieds in particular saw very dynamic growth,” CEO Mathias Doepfner said in a statement.

Business Insider, the millennial-focused international news site acquired in 2015, made money in the first half, added Doepfner: “This is a milestone that shows our growing ability to monetize journalistic content in the digital world.”

Springer has been pushing into online publishing to offset declining circulation at print titles like its flagship Bild tabloid, but the stronger growth story is in its classifieds business that earns four-fifths of core profits.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to 183.3 million euros ($213.5 million), just edging average expectations of 181 million euros in a Reuters poll of 13 analysts.

The company continues to expect group revenues to grow in the low- to mid-single-digit percentage range for the year as a whole, after they increased by 4.9 percent in the second quarter.

It said it also continued to expect double-digit revenue growth in its classifieds media segment. On an organic basis, after adjusting for currency and consolidation effects, it now expects low double-digit classifieds revenue growth - revising up its earlier view.

Other guidance - for a low double-digit gain in adjusted EBITDA and a low single-digit rise in adjusted earnings per share - was unchanged.